Yemen continues to be one of the world’s most challenging places to deliver much-needed health care and supplies. The COVID-19 pandemic further strained Yemen’s limited supply of medical oxygen, putting the country’s neediest patients
at risk. WHO worked with its partner, the Islamic Development Bank, to help build oxygen stations at hospitals and clinics throughout Yemen, supporting the country’s National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan.
In Yemen, oxygen is a critically important resource in clinics and hospitals. It facilitates surgeries and maternal and child-related care and is used to treat medical conditions such as asthma, pneumonia and COVID-19. The pandemic strained Yemen’s
supply of medical oxygen, and the ongoing conflict has left hospitals and clinics without ready access to fresh supplies of this crucial resource.
In partnership with the Islamic Development Bank, the World Health Organization launched an initiative to build oxygen stations at 14 hospitals and health clinics throughout Yemen, as part of the country’s National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response
Plan. In April 2022, Al-Sadaqah Hospital in Aden was the first to get its new oxygen production unit up and running.
Wala’a Walid’s son suffered from severe jaundice, and Al-Sadaqah Hospital was his only hope. She explained: “The first thing the doctors did was to put him on the ventilator to get enough oxygen. His condition has been better in the
week since he entered Al-Sadaqah.”
The project, overseen by a biomedical engineer, includes staff training along with ancillary equipment such as ventilators and arterial blood gas analysers, which deliver oxygen in a medically useful way.
Abdurrahman Mohammed Musa works in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit. He knows exactly what difference the new oxygen station has made. “Most patients who come here suffer from shock, lack of blood circulation or difficulty breathing,
so they need oxygen in ventilators. Oxygen is indeed available in private hospitals, but you pay money to get it. There is a demand here because oxygen is available and free”, he explained.
When oxygen was available it was delivered to the hospital’s patients directly from large canisters that were lugged to each patient’s bedside. But the new oxygen station has vastly improved this laborious routine.
